Comparing the accuracy of lay diagnosis of childhood malaria and pneumonia with that of the revised IMCI guidelines in Nigeria

Background Improving caregivers' recognition of childhood malaria and pneumonia is crucial to early treatment and improving outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy and reliability of caregivers' recognition of malaria and pneumonia (lay diagnosis) as compared to the revised IMCI guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to recruit 903 children aged 2-59 months who were assessed for malaria and pneumonia by health workers at five primary healthcare centres in Benin City, Nigeria. Accuracy of lay diagnosis as compared to the revised IMCI guidelines was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values. Results The accuracy of caregivers' ability to recognise malaria (AUROC: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.57-0.64) and pneumonia (AUROC: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.50-0.58) was, respectively, moderate and poor as compared to the IMCI guidelines. Caregivers were better able to identify children without than those with malaria and pneumonia. Agreement between caregivers and the IMCI guidelines for malaria and pneumonia diagnosis was poor (k = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.09-0.19; P = 0.0001). Conclusion Caregivers' ability to recognise these childhood diseases as compared to the IMCI guidelines was poor overall, which was partly due to the approach used to ascertain lay diagnosis.